


Trial Run

by tallpeachtreechild



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Dedicated to Will Bailey Fuckers, First Meetings, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:02:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26263096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tallpeachtreechild/pseuds/tallpeachtreechild
Summary: Donna has just quit and Wills in need of an aide.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	Trial Run

**Author's Note:**

> Not in love with this story but I wanted to get the idea out of my head and try writing from the perspective of a character I dislike.

If you told Will Bailey that in three years time Donna Moss would be a close friend he would have rolled his eyes so hard they might have combusted. The story of Will’s friendship with Donna is unexpected, by both of them. Years later he knows that her husband is still baffled by the pair of them, stifling his dislike of Will for the sake of his wife. He really should have seen it coming. Both ambitious, both underdogs, although in different ways, Will overshadowed by a legacy, Donna in desperate need of one. Donna comes into Will’s life the same way she comes into most rooms at the White House, barging in with command and purpose. 

“Hey Will- do you have those Budget numbers Josh is looking for?” 

He looks up from his desk, still shuffling his papers. 

“The VP is still looking them over but I can get them to you by Friday unless_”

She cuts him off with a smile “Friday is fine”. Then, as an afterthought. “You’ll have to send someone with them, I won’t be here to manage it” 

“Vacation?”

“I Quit”. She says it bemusedly, as if still confused herself on the matter. He can't help but to express shock on his face. Donna is a White House fixture. He had almost never seen Josh without her, fussing at him, letting him bounce off arguments. He thought of that expression, it takes a village. For Josh all it took was Donna, some napkins, and a pen or two. 

“Oh” The breezy conversion has come to a stand still, and Donna's checks flush, embarrassed.

“It just wasn’t right you know “ She’s vague but he senses she wants to elaborate, has a secret to hint at. He’s not good with secrets, so he passes the comment off, for now. 

‘What are you planning on doing?’

“I don't know yet. I just need to get away. Have some closure” she says it introspectively, and Will pretends he doesn't understand the overlying context. He knows what, or who, she wants closure   
from. He knows the feeling. 

She is really quite beautiful when she smiles, although she’s not his type in the slightest. Whatever happened, or didn't happen, between her and Josh, well that's none of his business. He knows whatever Josh did he’ll come to regret. There's no one more capable with numbers and facts than Donna.

The idea comes to him as she's leaving the room and he doesn’t hesitate. Poaching Donna out from Josh gives him a twisted sense of revenge, not to mention he’d be getting the benefit of years of hard earned political strategies without having to deal with Lyman's smugness or Toby’s self righteous serenades. 

“The Russell campaign would love to have you”

“I’m not looking for secretarial position-”

‘I’m not offering one.” Donna’s head whips up, her mouth agape “ how does media targeting for the North East and Pacific Northwest sound?”

She hugs him so tightly he forgets how to breathe. “Thank you” she whispers and he bites back the urge to laugh because he should be thanking her. If she had a college degree he would probably make her press secretary on the spot, but this is good enough for now, a trial run.


End file.
